Category Archives: Announcements

Video Blog Milestone: Songwriter Jim Fusco at 40,000 and counting!

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By Jim Fusco:

In my world, goals are made to be broken. I’m that “Type A” personality that needs to get things done and won’t stop until it’s done completely. That said, I made a goal for myself to get 100 subscribers and 35,000 YouTube views by my birthday next Tuesday, April 29.

I made that goal about two months ago, and today, I reached 40,000 views to go along with my 128 subscribers!

It’s a nice milestone, but I need to make a better goal for next time around, so here it is.

I would like 225 subscribers and 55,000 views by May 31st. It’s a lofty goal, seeing that as of now, I’m averaging about 10,000 views a month. I’m hoping May brings me 15,000. I think it’s possible, though.

Between the three of us, I don’t see any reason why we can’t shoot for 250,000 total views by the end of the year. We’re currently on pace to get 211,920 views by year end, but as we’ve seen in the past four months, this keeps growing by leaps and bounds. I can only think that we’ll easily eclipse that 250k number because the viewership seems to grow somewhat exponentially.

That said, goals are great if you intend to complete them, and that’s what Jim, Chris, and Jeff ALL plan to do here at the Laptop Sessions. Thank you for your support and we hope you’ll tell all your friends in person, on MySpace, and on Facebook to come watch some great videos here at https://guitarbucketlist.com!

Laptop Sessions Rocks George’s II Open Mic Night with New Music and Classic Covers

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to update all of you how our performance went last night!

We really played well, and had a high percentage of the crowd watching us, bobbing their heads, and clapping after each song. We got to play 7 original songs in a half hour. Favorites such as “That Was The Day” and “Where Are We Now”, as well as new songs from MoU’s new album “Homestead’s Revenge” such as “Evil Disappointment”, “These Streets”, and “Please Stay” were also showcased. I really think we’ll see a lot of the same people in the near future…

…when we play there again on May 16! That’s right! The Laptop Sessions Live will be playing Friday, May 16 at George’s II Restaurant from 9:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. We’ll also have the freedom of playing whatever we want, so expect to hear songs from the entire FMP library – including “Greenlight”, “Homestead’s Revenge”, and perhaps a track or two from Jim Fusco’s upcoming album “Halfway There”. Mike Fusco will also be with us as a drummer, so it’ll be a full band ensemble.

Lots of people came up to us to congratulate us on our performance, and gave us a lot of confidence.

Heck, we rocked so much….that my amplifier couldn’t take it!

Hartke B60 amplifier

That’s right. The power supply on my 11 year old Hartke B60 (pictured) fried! Thankfully during the last song, but man. These things are not cheap, and hopefully our friend Dana can repair it in time. If not, I do plan on purchasing another Hartke amplifier. I love the thing so much because of a feature called a Shape controller, which basically allows me to use a dial to select a treble, “picky” bass, or a deep bass sound (I prefer the latter). Thankfully we’ve been making good money on shows, and I have a lot of side jobs that I can afford to purchase a new one, but I hadn’t planned on purchasing one.

We closed with “Where Are We Now”, and after the drum solo, I noticed my bass wasn’t sounding anymore. I then smelled an electrical burnout, so I quickly unplugged my amp and turned it off – while Chris, Jim, and Mike kept playing! I then had to stand there staring at my amp for 30 seconds while they finished the song. The director of the Open Mic night announced to the crowd “How about a hand for Jeff Copperthite, whose bass amplifier has just burned out”, and I received a round of applause for that.

We’ll hope it is fixed for May 16!

Thanks for reading this wall of text post, and I hope you are enjoying The Laptop Sessions, and have an opportunity to come see us on May 16!

Some photographs from our new music performance at Testa’s!

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Hello to everyone out there! I just got finished recording some more future laptop sessions (and re-recording a couple while I was at it), and wanted to share with you some of the images from our first ever performance, aptly labeled “The Laptop Sessions Live Tour”, which was at Testa’s in Southington on April 12, 2008.

If I may be allowed to toot our own horn a bit, we sounded great! Our format was enjoyed by all in attendance, and we left after 4 straight hours of non-stop performing with a lot of compliments, happy patrons, and a little cash. It’s true – getting paid to do something you really enjoy doing is something else.

We structured the show so that we’d play 5 songs together, then do a series of solo performances, where Jim performs 2 sessions, Chris performs 2, and I perform 2. Then we rinse and repeat. This allowed us to play a lot of the covers we know as a threesome, and allow us to play some of our more well-known sessions. I for one got to play some of my sessions in the past such as “If You Never Got Sick”, “Waste”, “Delirious Love”, “Spies”, and “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town” to name a few. This allowed each band member a lot of break time to spend with fans, and drink some needed water.

I also got to sell a physical copy of my album “Greenlight”. Too bad she didn’t ask me for an autograph!

Jeff, Jim, and Chris performing!

Jeff performing “Waste”

The Laptop Sessions Live!

We loved performing together so much, that we’re doing it again! Tomorrow, April 17th at around 9:45 p.m. at George’s II restaurant we are going to perform a short set at Open Mic night. There could easily be a future, paid show on the horizon at the same venue, so stay tuned for that.

It’s funny we’re performing there because it is the same restaurant I worked at in High School. I’m not even sure if the owner knows that i’m going to be in one of the acts. He’ll find out in less than 24 hours if not.

I also wanted to mention I am SO excited about the good things that are happening here at guitarbucketlist.com, because all of us are beginning to become known on some message boards, our local fan base is increasing, and now we are starting to make a little money on the side as well. It really is a great time to be a part of this.

So if you’re in the Wallingford area tomorrow night, come on down to George’s II restaurant located off exit 65 on Route 15, and we’ll be on in the area of 9:45 p.m. We’re quite possibly playing for 30+ minutes too, so the trip will be worth it!

Songwriters on Vacation – Our trip to TNA Lockdown 2008 Pay-Per View!

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By Jim Fusco:

On Sunday, my brother Mike, my father, and Chris Moore took a trip up to Lowell, MA for Total Nonstop Action’s (TNA) “Lockdown” Pay-Per-View event. We LOVE wrestling and have loved watching it for all our lives (except for Chris, who started watching a couple years ago) and this was our first time seeing TNA live.

I love TNA wrestling- it reminds me of the old WCW days that I loved so dearly. I just can’t do WWE- the matches are slow, they’re so vulgar sometimes, and I just plain cannot stand Vince McMahon.

So, this was a very exciting event for us. We took the 2-plus hour drive to Lowell and got ready for the event. Right when we walked in, there were wrestlers Black Machismo Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt (along with SoCal Val) out there taking photos and signing autographs. It was so cool- you’d NEVER see something like that at a big WWE event. At least not in such a low-key manner.

Then, wrestlers Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (of the Motor City Machineguns) and Roxxi Laveaux came out to do a photo shoot/autograph session for charity.

The venue wasn’t huge, but they filled up over 90% of it. They announced a new attendance record for TNA, too! I estimate there were about between 6,500 and 7,000 people and it was a crazy crowd. I couldn’t talk for a whole day afterwards due to all the screaming.

My brother Mike and I got a chance to get our photo taken with one of the REAL TNA Tag Team Championship belts! We were SO excited- not gonna get THAT at a WWE show! Here’s the photo:

Mike and Jim Fusco holding one of the TNA Tag Team Championship belts.

Then the action started with the TNA X-Division X-cape match for the X-Division Championship. The participants were Jay Lethal [c] vs. Curry Man vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Johnny Devine vs. Shark Boy vs. Consequences Creed. We were pulling for Shark Boy all the way (who got the loudest fan reaction), but Black Machismo ended up winning in the only “cheap” win of the night. And, even though it was kinda cheap, we were all still happy Johnny Devine didn’t win, so it was okay.

Actually, the matches were of a caliber I’ve never seen on a TNA Pay Per View. I constantly frequent websites like TNA Wrestling News and read reviews of TNA Pay Per views. They ALWAYS get terrible reviews, telling people not to waste their money. But this one was exactly the opposite for a few reasons:

1. No ridiculous finishes or anyone coming in to interfere! NONE!

2. All the matches, with the exception of maybe the first half of the Queen of the Cage match, were simply great.

3. EVERY SINGLE HERO WON! Without exception- Jay Lethal, Roxxi Laveaux, Booker T., B.G. James, Team Cage (Sting, Christian Cage, Rhino, Matt Morgan, Kevin Nash), Samoa Joe, Gail Kim and O.D.B.- EVERYONE!

We got to see our favorite all-time wrestler, Sting. We got to see a new World Heavyweight Champion in Samoa Joe, and we didn’t have to see any cheap stuff like we’re used to seeing in many high-profile matches.

It was the experience of a lifetime and I can’t wait until they come back our way! I hope TNA lasts forever, because I love every minute of it!